28 April 2016

Our wedding day: all the pretty dresses

It's been so much fun writing about the wedding! I can't believe it's more than a month ago. This post is the topic that everyone is asking me about - the clothes! All pictures are by Fresh Photography unless stated.

I had such an extensive wedding wardrobe! Two dresses, three jackets, two pairs of shoes and two bras! It was lots of fun to have wardrobe changes, and also kept me comfortable.

Having two dresses was extravagant but practical. Plus my first dress was on an incredible sale, and my second dress was kindly gifted.

Dress one was more bride-y than I'd ever imagined I'd wear. I bought it in June 2014 from Fairytales Bridal Boutique - Mum actually picked it out. It had six skirt layers and half a metre of tulle was cut off as I'm so short. It was adjusted with a lace up panel at the back to accommodate my bust. My lovely dressmaker altered it - I think I spent more time standing in it for fittings than wearing it on the wedding day!

I loved it - I felt like a princess!

I wore some soft gold glitter peep toe wedges for the ceremony and some of the photos, but I soon removed them and replaced them with some comfier soft gold ballet flats. My dress length was just right for both pairs of shoes. I can wear my shoes again.

In the lead up to our wedding, I was really worried about how the boning in my very bride-y dress would affect my skin. I asked married girlfriends with Ichthyosis for advice on how they kept comfortable on their big day, and also asked my dressmaker friend to make a simple jersey band to wear underneath the bodice - to avoid the synthetic fabric hurting me. I was also lucky to be given a second wedding dress from St Frock to change into, should I need to.

I managed to stay comfortable in my traditional dress from 1.30 - 9.00 pm. And then I wanted to be able to sit comfortably, eat dessert and dance. Oh yeah, and go to the toilet on my own! And my forearms were getting a little sore from the lack of moisture. So I layered up (with a Metalicus 3/4 sleeve top that disappointingly ran on first wear), the sequinned maxi dress and a little coatlet plus a brooch in the wedding theme colours.

This dress was made for dancing! So swishy and comfortable.

Thanks St Frock!

It's important for me to cover up and as much as I'd loved to have bare arms, it wasn't possible. I get itchy, dry, cold and sore. Plus I wouldn't have bare arms in every day life. And so I covered up with jackets.

For the ceremony, I went traditional - my big white dress and a simple lace bolero that was handmade and given to by my friend Jackie who runs clothing label M'gapi. It was so soft and comfortable to wear - beautifully made to measure.

During the official photos, I put on a coloured jacket which was lots of fun! That was by a UK brand called Darling (I bought it from a shop in Yarraville that's recently closed down), and while it's not on sale in store, I saw a couple on eBay.

I promise to write more about this jacket in a future post - it really was the feature of the wedding.

And I put a winter white coatlet on with my second dress (the coatlet was from a bridal store in the city that has now shut down), and pinned the collar with a brooch from Clay and Chic on Etsy. (There's a photo of the brooch below.)

My headpiece was handmade - I found an amazing artist at the Etsy bridal fair. Ashlee Lauren, from South Australia, created a lavish headpiece for me - it fit like an Aliceband. It was rose gold, silver and crystals.

The jewellery was simple - a pearl and cubic zirconia pendant on a silver chain (from Salera's), a pearl bracelet (from Royal Pearl and Gem in Royal Arcade Melbourne CBD) and my grandmother's engagement ring - which is a blue sapphire surrounded by diamonds. I put my engagement ring on my right hand. Now I have my wedding ring, I have been wearing it on my right hand and my engagement ring on my left (my hands have been too sore and swollen to wear them both on one finger right now).

Camille made dresses for her and Cassie - they were pink and blue shantung silk. I said they could wear whatever they felt comfortable in, as long as it was in the colour scheme. The dresses were so simple and pretty, and I hope they get lots of wear out of them again. Camille did such a great job! She even made matching bags. Their jewellery was their own.

2 comments:

LOVE!Ah you gotta love Dads! My sister got married in a garden on a 45c day and our Dad REFUSED to wear long pants! Yep! He wore shorts! Your frocks and suits and jackets were simply lovely. I loved the colour theme.

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The material on Tune into Radio Carly is copyright.The writing in this blog is by Carly Findlay unless otherwise stated.Most photos in this blog are by Carly Findlay unless otherwise stated.Please do not reproduce without permission from Carly Findlay.

This blog represents my personal opinions and experiences. It does not reflect those of my employers'.The information I provide about ichthyosis is mostly based on personal experiences. Please seek medical advice or counseling before trying any new treatments I've written about.